Shorthanded Edinburgh no match for Milan

MILAN

Milan made short work of Edinburgh, rolling out to a big lead and pulling away for a 75-0 win at home Friday.

The Indians, ranked 11th in the latest Class 2A poll, scored 34 points in the first quarter, led 61-0 at the half and never looked back to remain unbeaten in the Mid-Indiana Football Conference.

“They’re a top 10 2A team and a team that is going to make a deep run in the 2A state tournament. You’ve got to tip your hat to them,” Edinburgh coach Jason Burton said. “They do a lot of things well. They’re a program of excellence. That’s what we preach to our kids. That’s something that we can be down the road.”

Edinburgh (0-6, 0-5 MIFC) never had a chance. Milan needed to run just 12 offensive plays in the first half while scoring six offensive touchdowns, two on special teams and one on defense.

A long kickoff return by Milan’s Tyler Smith to open the game set the tone for things to come. The Indian junior went 54 yards down to the Edinburgh 16 and Milan’s Jacob Burton scored on the first offensive play when he took a David Carpenter pass in for the score.

A fumble set up Milan (5-1, 3-0 MIFC) with a short field on its next series, and the Indians scored quickly on a 30-yard pass from Carpenter to Zac Minnich for a 13-0 lead. A 40-yard touchdown run by Austin King made it 20-0 less than four minutes into the game.

The touchdowns came fast and often after that for Milan. King scored again on a 25-yard pass from Carpenter, Minnich ran a punt back 30 yards then opened the second quarter with a 50-yard interception return, Burton had his own 72-yard punt return, Parker Lewis scored on a 4-yard run and King scored again on a 30-yard touchdown run for a 61-0 lead at the half.

Edinburgh, meanwhile, never came close to answering the Milan onslaught. The Lancers turned the ball over three times and collected minus-16 yards in total offense while not crossing midfield in the first half.

“Right now we’re really young, we had 17 players tonight and nine injured. We’ve just got to get better,” coach Burton said. “We’re playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores, which isn’t great now, but the experience will pay off for us in the end.”

Milan finished the game with 363 yards in total offense to just 58 for Edinburgh.

Edinburgh returns home next week for an even tougher test when it takes on Eastern Greene.